Formalising supply chain integrity in the process of manufacturing is a challenge for circular economy in India, industry leaders opined on Monday. During the Maharashtra Circular Economy Conclave held here, large Indian companies spoke about the efforts being taken towards circular economy, the regulatory framework and the push and pull factors towards circularity.“There are two challenges at present. We need to have supply chain integrity. In India, we have an informal way of managing circularity. How to formalise it is a challenge. And the second challenge is the transparency and traceability in the system that the material is really good and is going to get recycled back into the system,” said Prabodha Acharya, CSO of JSW Steel.A panel discussion with the representatives of large Indian companies like Mahindra Group, Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group, JSW Steel, explored three broad themes on why circular economy matters to large businesses today, how conglomerates can shape systems beyond their own operations to suppliers to vendors and what the next phase of circular business transformation in Maharashtra and India could look like. They also discussed the critical significance of resource security at a time of geopolitical instability, which has become a major factor leading to circularity.Deeksha Vats, Chief Sustainability Officer of Aditya Birla Group, emphasised on the impact of push and pull factors in creating circularity. “The regulations are the push factors. The pull factor is when the customers ask for greener products. Currently, the need for resource security is what is leading to bigger strides in circular economy,” she said.Mr. Acharya said that JSW Steel was able to use 99.99% of its waste as byproduct. “We created JSW cement to create another business. It is one of the most low-carbon businesses. Everything which comes out must be reused. Every energy which comes out, we trap and use. We do waste-gas recycling. [As much as] 40-50% of our energy needs are met out of it. We use everything that comes out of it,” he said.The event organised by the Consulate General of Finland in Mumbai, the Embassy of Finland in India, MMRDA, Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, and FICCI, was the official side event of World Circular Economy Forum 2026, which will be hosted in Asia for the first time this year in September. Published - June 02, 2026 09:02 pm IST